


Foolish Dreams of a Better World

by Jinx_of_the_World



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cussing, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, Sporadically Updated, Suicide Attempt, War AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-25 16:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2628770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinx_of_the_World/pseuds/Jinx_of_the_World
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the middle of the war between the humans and the trolls the battles rage on around the world. But with the sheer amount of trolls they started to take over the humans. The humans last resort is to capture a troll found unconscious and bleeding out on the battlefield and getting him to help them. Will an unlikely pair make their own light in the darkness of this war, or will it all be consumed making their dreams diminished?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Start of it All

The war between the humans and trolls had been raging for years upon years and both sides had seemed to be pretty evenly matched, well that was until a couple years ago. The numbers of human soldiers continued to dwindle as the trolls sent out more and more. One troll that was sent out was a shorter mutant blood named Karkat Vantas. He had trained hard and endured everything that every other troll has put him through during the sweeps he's spent fighting. All of his work came to a halt whilst he was in battle. The beat of his blood pusher thumped loudly in his ears as he was on the battlefield with bullets and blood flying everywhere, his own included. Cuts and gashes covered the small trolls body as he pushed forward and continued the fight, but too much blood was being lost. The humans started pushing the trolls back and a retreat was called, but the poor Vantas had lost far too much blood and collapsed to the ground, unable to move any longer. The last thing he saw was the blurred face of a human before everything went black. 

 

When he awoke everything around him was dark and everything reeked of humans. He couldn’t move and he could feel the slightly tight and uncomfortable hold of shackles around his wrists and bonds to the chair he was stuck in. Light flooded into the room suddenly, causing the scarlet eyed troll to hiss in pain and force his eyes close once again. Squinting against the entrances bright lights he could see the silhouette of a tall human in front of him, standing in the doorway. “It would seem as if our little troll friend has finally decided to join us.” The human spoke with a texan drawl as he took a couple steps into the room, flipping on a light switch, properly illuminating the small cement room. The smallest of smirks could be seen upon his lips as he looked at the troll bound into the chair. He had platinum blonde hair and wore a pair of dark shades which hid his eyes and by the the patches and pins on his uniform it would seem as if he was quite high up in the chain of command. “Close the door. Best not to intimidate the thing to much. We need him to talk anyways.” The human spoke as he looked back at the couple other men at the doorway. They gave a small nod before closing the door, a small sound of a large, strong lock sliding into place. Karkat glared up at the man as he smirked down at him. “So, troll. What’s you’re name?”

“What makes you think I’d tell my name to some worthless human like you?” He spoke with a slight hiss as he glared up at the tall human. He had been taught to never give into the humans, even with some of the most basic questions being asked. He knew if he gave them information they might let him go and if they did he would surely be killed by his higher ups. He already was nothing more than dirt to the other trolls so they wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he let any information go.

“Oh come now. That’s no way to speak to the man keeping your grey ass alive. Just about everyone else wanted a bullet put between your eyes, but I knew better. You can give us needed information that we wouldn’t be able to get ourselves.” 

“You know just as well as I do I’m fucked either way so there’s no reason I should help you pink fleshed monkeys.”

 

“Well that just ain't true my fine grey friend. We can keep you safe here if you give us the information we ask for. So once more, I’ll ask one of the most simple questions in the book. What is your name?” He remained calm as he always did as he spoke to the defensive troll.

Karkat glared up at him for several seconds before speaking. “Karkat Vantas.”

“Dave Strider. See that wasn’t so hard, now was it? Now. You willin to give me the information I need. I promise I can keep you safe if ya do.”

“That’s such hoofbeast shit. How would you or any human keep me safe?”

Dave shrugged. “We have our ways. But like I said you need to give me some information for us to protect ya.” 

The troll's gaze was sceptical as Dave spoke and after several more seconds he gave in with a sigh. "Bring me a map."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my first attempt at writing. None of this would be near as good as it is without my friend, and beta for this fic, TricksterUnknown so there's a huge thank you to her. I'll be trying to update this once a week if not a bit more often. It all depends on what I can get done and when TU can look through it. I'll also be increasing the length of the chapters once I really get this going.


	2. Baby Steps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say sorry that this is a bit late! I've been pretty busy this week, but will continue to try and post once a week on tuesday.  
> Thanks again to my wonderful beta TricksterUnknown for fixin up some of my stuff!

Karkat and Dave, along with a few other high ranking military men, spent hours in that room looking over the map. Karkat was put in the bottom most rank. His superiors never bothered to watch what they said around him and as a result he had overheard quite a lot from them.

He was able to give the positions of several camps as well as where some of them were going. He also gave them the best description of how the trolls would normally fight as well as main weaknesses that just about all trolls had.

Once finished all the humans except for Dave left the room. “You understand we can’t let you leave, right? It’s the best way to keep you safe, and if they go and find out the information you gave was fake they’ll want to be able to dispose of you themselves.”

“Yeah, I understand…” Karkat hated this situation, but he didn't have much say in the matter if he wished to continue living. He had given them correct information so as long as the trolls didn’t move out earlier than they said they would he should be fine.

“We’ll be moving you to a new area, a more long term holding cell, and that'll make things hell of a lot easier if you’d cooperate with me.” Dave held out a pair of strong hand cuff to Karkat who then gave a sigh before putting his hands behind his back and turning around for the cuffs to be placed around his wrists.

Through the whole walk through the halls there was a gun trained on the troll in case he tried anything, which he knew better to do. The transferring of him to his new room went well enough since Karkat just went as he was told. The new room was a very basic singles bed with a small table and two chairs in the middle of the room.

“Someone will be staying either in here with you or right outside at all times just to make sure you don’t try anything.”

“Yeah, whatever. It doesn't really fucking matter to me.” He grumbled as they took his cuffs off and closing the door after them. 

With Dave still in the room Karkat then went and laid on the bed. It had been the longest time since he had laid on anything this comfortable. Even when they were in the more established camps that actually had recuperacoon or beds he wasn't really allowed to use them. He was that low on the chain that it just wasn’t allowed. Karkat let out a content sigh as he closed his eyes and stretched.

“We'll be providing you with meals and water so you don’t have to worry about any of that.” Karkat just replied with a small nod. Dave then went ahead and headed out of the room, leaving him alone in the quiet to slip off into an uneasy sleep.

He was awaken a few hours later by the sound of the large door opening, and seeing Dave coming in with a tray of food. He took his own seat before setting the food down on the table with a quiet clatter, then looking at the troll.

“Time to eat Kitkat.” He said with a grin. All Dave got out of Karkat was a raised eyebrow at the strange nickname before he moved to sit across from Dave and start eating. Neither of them spoke as the troll ate the truthfully rather disgusting food.

They spent quite a lot of time together for the next few days, Dave coming in and out of the room as he pleased and Karkat spending a lot of time just sort of laying about. As they spent more time together they ended up growing a little closer and ended up finding out that they had both known a boy of the name John Egbert. Karkat had been saved and taken care of by said boy when he had first started having to fight in battles and form what could be gathered. Dave and John had been the best of bros, but that was before John had been taken out by a bullet to the head.

During one of the many times the unlikely friends were sitting and just talking Karkat kept hearing loud noises from outside the smallish room in which he only noticed. It wasn't until the sound got louder and closer did both the boys start to stare at the door with confusion and worry.


	3. Turning Point of a New Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of what was and soon enough the start of something new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this has taken me so long. Things got really hectic for me and the free time I have had I've had writers block. But hey! Here's a long chapter to say sorry!
> 
> Anywho. Thanks again to my beta TricksterUnknown for checking things over. Hope you guys like the chapter and I'll try and get the next one up sometime next week.

They glanced at each other before Dave got up and quickly went for the door and unlocking it, speaking as he did so. “Stay here, got it?" 

With a scoff the shorter boy got to his feet and walked over to the other’s side. “Fuck that. Like I’m going to just sit here and wait for whatever the hell that sound is to come get me. Plus I can still fight if needed. I’m not as good without my sickles, but I can still be of some help.”

The blond looked at him through his dark shade, looking him over and assessing the situation. Muffled screams of pain could be heard from somewhere near in the base, making him bring his attention back out into the hall. “Fine, but you stay right next to me and don’t be a god damn martyr.”

“Understood.” Dave grabbing his katana as they sprinted past it as they both went sprinting down the hall. Leaving behind the only trace of their presence being Karkat’s claw-like nails leaving scratches on the corners of the walls as he used them to help whip around the corners.

The scent of blood in the air grew stronger as they went through the tunnels of the base, but soon a familiar scent hit Karkat like a ton of bricks, stopping him dead in his tracks. “It’s…. Some of my platoon...” He quickly started sprinting once more, soon surpassing Dave on his way to them. “What the fuck are they doing here?!” There was a slight growl of agitation in his tone as he spoke under his breath.

They whipped around one last corner before almost running face first into two trolls. Tension was in every inch of the mutant bloods body as he looked at the two others. It would seem that the bulk of the sound they had been hearing was the result of one, Equius Zahhak, punching through the walls of the bunker as if they were nothing. “Stop punching the gog damn walls! You’re gonna make the whole fucking structure collapse, and I don’t know about you two but I’d much rather not be crushed to death today!” He did his best to keep himself in between them and Dave as he just about yelled.

“Do not tell me what to do mutant.” Equius spoke as he punched into yet another wall before being shooshed by the smaller troll at his side. Said smaller troll was known as Nepeta Leijon who had turned her attention to Karkat once getting her moirail to calm himself a bit.

“Come on Karkitty, we need to go. Equius is so lame and Captor won’t get off his computer to talk to me. Besides this place is stupid. There’s been barely any humans at all.”

“Karks, you have some pretty fuckin weird friends.” Dave comments from behind the short troll, drawing everyone's attention to him.

“Ooh! There’s one!” Nepeta speaks excitedly and looks at him with a bit of a smile.

“Not the time, Strider.” Karkat snapped back at Dave, annoyance painfully clear in his voice as he keeps his eyes on the other trolls. “Look. I have no intention of going back there. I was treated like I was worth less than dirt and I’d have to be out of my fucking mind to go back there on my own free will. Getting captured and being stuck here, no matter how annoying it was, is probably one of the best things that's ever happen to me. I got food on a regular basis, didn’t have to deal with and physical or verbal abuse from higher ups, not to mention the fact I was finally able to get the amount of rest I need to even function correctly that didn't require me to sleep on the ground.”

The olive blood pouted and tilted her head a bit. “But Karkitty…. If you don’t come home with us we’ll kill you.” She spoke in a very plain tone, as if it was one of the most obvious things in the world as her claw like blades slipped from her jacket sleeves. “And if I kill you I’ll be pawsitively bored.” She continued to pout, not liking the idea of killing him in the slightest. In a somewhat psychotic way she considered Karkat as her unspoken matesprit. The only reason she hadn’t really tried to force it upon Karkat was that Equius would strongly disapprove of it.

“This is just fucking ridiculous. Can I kick their asses now?” Dave asked, ready to strife. Nepeta quickly readied herself to pounce but Equius beat her to it and delivered a strong blow to his jaw.

“Was that hard of a hit really called for you ass?” karkat couldn’t keep the slightest of snarls from his voice before turning his attention to Dave who’d been sent to the ground after the hit. 

“He wished to fight, I simply threw the first punch.” As Equius spoke Dave groaned and spit out a tooth along with a bit of blood before slowly getting to his feet.

“Are you coming or not Karkitty?” Nepeta speaks as she trotted over toward the pair. Dave gets his sword in hand, only to be taken down by yet another hit, this time to his gut.

Karkat gives a quick glance to the blond before speaking. “Yeah, fine… I’ll come with. Just don’t kill the human, okay? He’s treated me better than just about anyone else I’ve had the misfortune of meeting in my pitiful life.”

“Fuck no. Karkat if you leave now I’ll kill you the second I see you again.” Dave spoke as he shakily sat up and leaned against the unharmed wall. This time a kick was delivered, connecting with Dave’s face to shut him up, Nepeta squealed happily and tackle Karkat into a tight embrace.

“Die now or die later. I think I’ll go with later…..Sorry Dave…” His tone was soft for once as he apologized, truly meaning it, Karkat hoped that the other humans wouldn’t punish him or anything for letting him get away.

“You won’t die now. Once I get the asshat out of the way the cat bitch would be easy to defeat.” Dave let out another groan of pain as he struggled to do the simplest of tasks of sitting up.

Karkat was turned away at this point but heard the impact and grunt of pain from Dave as Equius kicked him while he was down. “I would rather you not call my moirail such a derogatory term.”

“Come on Equius. That’s enough don’t you think?” Karkat knew he couldn’t do anything to reallys stop him if he decided he wanted to kill Dave, but he could at least try to convince him to stop before to much more damage was done to the human.

Another sound of a kick and the grunt of pain from Dave before Equius spoke. “Yes it is. Now let us go. Come on Nepeta, Vantas. This place is set to explode soon.”

“Explode? Why the fuck would this place explode?!” A short briefing about how Gamzee had come in and planted bombs all throughout the base was given from Nepeta chiming in here and there.Karkat’s gaze went between Dave and Equius a couple times before settling on the other troll. “Look I can’t just leave this human behind. He’s the main reason I’m still alive right now so I need to repay the favor.” Plus he would consider Dave a friend, if he was remembering the term correctly, and was having difficulties bringing himself to leave the other behind.

“To bad Karkitty! We need to get going. If you stay You’d end up dead and in little bits just about everywhere, and I would really hate to see that happen to you.” Karkat just replied with a snarl as she tried to grab onto his wrist and tug him along. This spurred Equius to try and hit him atop the head to knock him out, but Karkat saw the attack coming, and with his smaller frame and quick movements he was able to get out of the way as much as possible. He escape with a slight bang on the side which kept him from being knocked out but he had one hell of a headache now. But since knocking him out didn’t work Equius settled for grabbing his wrist and holding it with an iron grip.

“Leave the human otherwise you both will explode.” Equius was starting to grow tired of this whole ordeal and spoke sharply as Nepeta got her claws out once more.

“He kept me alive, so I have to at least try and save his sorry ass. Now let me go!” He wasn't even trying to hide his snarls as he tried to get away from the two other trolls to help the human.

Time was quickly running out so the duo were forced to leave Karkat behind and escape before the whole base blew up,crashing down on their heads. Once they were out of sight Karkat quickly went over to Dave and started to assess the damage done to him. “What the hell did I say about not being a martyr, Karks?” He finally was able to really sit up with assistance, coughing as he did so. “And how the hell is that dickwad so strong? Hell, I think he broke one of my legs just from kicking it.”

“You told me not to be one, but it’s a little too late to change that now isn't it?” Karkat does his best to keep his touches light as he checked over the leg. ”Well good news it it’s not broken just sprained.” As he spoke Dave got up to his feet, granted a little shaky but seeming okay enough to walk overall.

“It doesn’t fucking matter at the moment. We just need to get out right now.” Karkat stayed a few feet ahead of Dave as they made their way through the base. There was no way in hell he was going to leave him behind after dealing with Equius and Nepeta to be able to help get him out of there.

Each step taken by Dave sent another wave of pain through his body. He had a couple teeth missing and although his shade were cracked he still refused to take them off. Once they made it out of the base he let out a sigh but they kept moving, needing to get out of the blast range before it went off.

Once far enough away the two of them stopped and looked back at the base just as the explosive started to detonate, the collapsing of the building working towards them. “Damn…” That was all that was spoken by Dave as he looked back at the rubble , dust, and smoke of what used to be the base from his sitting position on the ground.

“What do we do now?”

“Fuck if I know….You can go if you want cuz central command is kinda blown up now.”

“Well no matter what there’s no way I’m heading back to my platoon. I’ll be treated even worse than I already was because I helped a human.”

“Yeah… Well I’m sure everyone’s going to think we're dead, so I guess we’re free to do whatever we want.” He’s quiet for a second before speaking again. “I get pretty fucking pushed around too, but I signed up for this shit so…”

"You guys get to choose?"

"Not everyone. But I joined. I know some guys who joined for money, and others were drafted, but I signed up."

"Some even get money? Man. The human armies are a whole hell of a lot better than ours..."

"Yeah.,, well our system is less fucked up so it makes sense." Dave said, standing up with a sigh. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"If you want, you can go to another base. Continue fighting the war. I, on the other hand, don't have anywhere to go. I'd rather stay dead to the trolls and I have no reason to go to humans. They would most likely just kill me anyways. I'll hide and live in the forest and destroyed towns." He looked back to the building. The sun starting to set behind the ruble.

"So then we both just go our separate ways at this point? I mean, I'd rather not go back to the next base, battered and bruised, hoping for them to not be mad at me for being alive. It would be better if I'd died rather than live through a tragic accident." He explained.

“I guess. That is unless you want me to tag along while you’re hurt since it’s going to be difficult getting food and keeping yourself alive while you can’t move too well.” He looked to Dave again

"I can manage. I've been through worse than a sprain or two and some what of a few missing teeth." He smiled a bit sourly. "But damn, I'll need new shades. It's a shame too, I like these ones." He sighed.

He nods. "Try some of the more recently destroyed towns. You might find some there."

"I might just repair these ones...I could try at least." He shrugged. 

A wave a silence washed over the duo before Dave continued speaking. "So I guess this is goodbye then..."

"Well...maybe we'll meet again at some point." Karkat smiled a little then turned and walked into a nearby forest.

Dave gave a small wave before heading off into one of the cities, searching for food, water, and shade repair supplies. John was his bro of course, and these shades were a gift from him.


	4. Striders Don't Cry

Years passed without the two of them crossing paths, Karkat working on his strength and agility as he stayed mostly to forest areas and took out just about any trolls he saw. He always left the humans alone though, not wanting to doom the world by taking out more of the already dwindling human military. Dave took a different approach to things, doing his best to stay away from others and just focus on keeping himself alive. Never heading back to the military and becoming known somewhat as a vigilante since he would fight off any trolls that tried to make him do anything he didn't want to do.

A shortage of medical supplies that Karkat traveled with pushed him out of the forests and into a large city, long abandoned due to the war getting far too close to it. As he was moving through he found a general store and saw not only medical supplies, and food but also some clothes. With a quick glance at what he was wearing he knew some fresh and undamaged clothes would be good for him and headed in after checking out the area around the shop.

Then as the troll was going through things he heard a sound behind him, causing Karkat to whip around just to see a tall blond man standing there with a sword held out to him in an offensive stance. “Don’t move!” The human ordered and took a step forward.

Karkat reacted by pulling out his duel sickles, taking a ready stance in case the human got a stupid idea. His eyes were a pure candy red as he glared at the other and snarled threateningly.

“Look. Your weird troll growling doesn’t scare me. I could beat your sorry ass no problem.” The blonde spoke with confidence as he smirked. This triggered a swift reaction from Karkat who darted forward and knocked the sword from the others hand. Easily pinning the human to a nearby wall with a sickle upon his throat.

“You so sure about that fuckass?” A growl mixed in with his words and his eyes burned into the shades Dave wore. However that confidence and fear had now turned into confusion upon Dave’s face.

“Karkat…?” He spoke uncertainly, finding the short troll's voice and facial structure slightly familiar. This causing the others expression of anger to falter as he quickly studied the taller male’s face. Slowly backing away and letting his arms fall to his sides keeping in a ready position however in case shit went down.  
“Dave?” Things had clicked into place for Karkat and he was blown away to see this human still alive. He’d never really seen any manage on their and given the state the man was in he doubted he was traveling around with any others.

“Yep. That’s me.” Dave relaxed as the other slipped his sickles back into their holsters upon his hips. “Shit man. For a second there I thought I was actually in danger, but let's get this cleared up right now. The only reason you were able to get the better of me is cuz my arm’s fucked up and still iffy at times.” Karkat just rolled his eyes.

“Sure. Whatever you say.” WIth that he turned and walked away, going back to scavenging as he had been doing before. Pulling supplies off of shelves and placing them in the bag he kept and tossing clothes into a pile for him to go through later. “What’s got you in this shitty place and why don’t you have back up or something like that?”

“Well I never went back to the army afterwards. I was lumped in with all the others that died in that explosion and never wished to go back.So I’ve kept moving all this time. Not really getting back with humans and just pissing off trolls when I refused to do whatever idiotic thing they wanted me to.” Dave stayed against the wall, checking over his arm real quick and making sure the healing wound was still okay as he could get it.

“Hm. I suppose I did about the same thing. When I wasn’t with the others when they came back from the operation at that base they all passed me off as dead. Fine by me however. Makes it easier to pick off trolls and I find them in the forests. Keep a low profile so when I have to come out of the woodwork I’m not in too much danger.”

 

The two spent the rest of that day and night catching up. Swapping stories as Karkat tended to the wound on Dave’s arm. Unknown to them however there was a skilled group for trolls hot on Karkat’s trail. His last kill of a high ranking troll had caught attention and they were now after him. Lackies were nothing but when they target a general the trolls won't sit around any longer. The two were relaxed though, Karkat slipping off into sleep quickly once they finally stopped talking and Dave fading in and out of consciousness as he contemplated leaving Karkat once again. Yes they spoke and caught up but it was still obvious they were in no means friends at this point and it would just be easier for Dave to simply slip away like he had whenever with anyone else.

Hours passed before Karkat awoke with a start, his heart racing as his eyes darted around to take in the scene around him. Calming once finding Dave was the only other one there and the night was silent. That was until he spotted a glint in the distance and quickly dived down, ending up on top of Dave as a bullet embedded itself into the wall where Karkat’s head had been moments again. This of course startled the human awake and he couldn’t help the move for his sword however Karkat stopped him before he could grab it and do something stupid. “Stay quiet and stay down. There’s a well armed and highly trained group of trolls here not far from here with an eye on the shop. They’re here for me so I’d suggest you get your sorry ass out of here before shit goes down. Use the back entrance. If you want to travel together wait at the edge of the north side of the town. If I’m not there within an hour head out.” At first it seemed as if Dave wouldn’t listen to the troll but finally gave a small nod, collecting his supplies quickly and heading out.

Dave knew theses streets better than any of the trolls did and started to weave his way safely through alleyways that were unlikely to be used and Karkat stayed behind just a second longer to deal with things as best he could. Never being very fond of using guns he kept a simple pistol with him and pulled it out as he took his supplies and himself to a better position to be able to look out and try to keep an eye out for the enemy. This didn’t pan out too well for Karkat though given the others had far better weapons for this. After emptying a clip towards the other trolls the mutant blood cursed under his breath and made a retreat, heading out the way he had instructed Dave to go. Quickly he ducked into a small alleyway himself and quickly climbed to the roof to get a good look of the area. He kept low and took in everything, seeing Dave making is way through and the platoon not far behind him. They must have lost Karkat and noticed a different trail, having decided to go after it rather than fight to try and find Karkat once more.

This left the troll with a dilemma. Either he leave and make Dave fend for himself with wounded arm against a strong platoon of trolls, or he mans the fuck up and goes in help the one who had practically saved him. Quickly his mind was made up and he gave a low growl as he quickly made his way down the building and heading to intercept the large group of trolls. Just as he thought he could hear them maybe a street at most away when he spoke out, simply trying to taunt them and lure them away from Dave. “Let me just say you guys are some seriously shitty trackers. I mean really. You’ve been trying to find me for like five months now, and I’m always able to get away so easily. Worst platoon in the gog damn world. No wonder you’re losing the war.” The captain of the platoon snarled and headed towards his voice. He continued to taunt them and stay just out of sight. Taking them farther away from Dave, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to get away from these guys together if at all.

As Karkat was busy keeping the platoon following him, he didn’t notice one of them sneak away and soon found himself pinned to a wall with a dagger held up to his throat and another at his gut. She called out to the rest of the platoon and they came quickly. “Should I kill him, sir?” The troll asked. “No. Not yet. Let’s have a bit of fun with him before culling em” The captain said with a grin right before the troll who had him pinned moved out of the way just as he sent a strong punch straight to his gut which caused the small troll to double over slightly.

Having decided that he wanted to be able to travel with the troll more Dave and waited at the outskirts of the city like Karkat had said to do. From this point he could hear the gunshots and cries of pain, unsure who it came from he grew anxious. "God dammit, the asshat got himself into trouble." He ran into the city, shouting relentlessly, trying to get the attention of the squad.

By the time the human could be heard Karkat was a bloody mess. He had tried to fight back, but he was easily outnumbered. He was currently laying on his side, struggling to get the air that was just kicked out of him back. He was covered in cuts and scrapes and bruises were already starting to form. The platoon looked in the direction of Dave’s shouting and all but one started going after him. Trying to find him in the convoluted alleyways. “Fuck…. Why did he have to…?” His voice was raspy and quiet as he spoke. Even with all the damage he took he refused to stop fighting, and now that there was only one troll guarding him he had a fighting chance. He got to his feet, acting very weak. The one troll left turned to him and went to take another swing at him, but Karkat dodged and grabbed ahold of their wrist. Flipping them over onto their back, quickly grabbing his sickles while the troll was dazed, and then sliced open their neck. Starting after Dave as quickly as he could. Praying that he would find him before the others did.

"KARKAT YOU ASS WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU BE SO FUCKING STUPID." Dave spoke as loud as he could, spotting the platoon. "OH HELLO. MY NAME IS DAVE E. STRIDER. HAVE YOU SEEN KARKLES????" He asked. No fucker were given that day.

“DAVE SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOUR SORRY ASS KILLED!” Karkat yelled at him as loud as he could, but the sound couldn’t reach the other thanks to how weak he was feeling and how screw up his voice was at the moment. Still trying to get to Dave the troll left a disgusting candy red blood trail in his wake.

The captain smirked. “You mean the pathetic excuse for a toll we’ve been hunting? Yeah we’ve seen him, and he’ll be dead in a few minutes. Blood loss is a bitch.” He stood there with his weapon out, and the rest of the platoon had theirs out as well.

"WELL SHOOT. I'm afraid I may just have to proceed to beat all of your asses because god damn, Karks was a pretty cool dude, and you fuckers proceeded to kill him." He shrugged. The captain's second in command looked at him and he nodded. With that the trolls rushed forward and started attacking Dave. He shook a few off, throwing a punch at one and fatally wounding another with his kick ass sword. "COME ON GUYS. THIS IS NOT FAIR." He shouted before smirking. "For you."

“He’s a snarky bastard, isn’t he?” Karkat spoke as he was right behind the commander and he had his sickle curving around the front of his neck. All of the trolls froze and looked at them. “Now I know you all don’t know what to do without your beloved captain here. It’s truly quite pathetic. But I do have to wonder what would happen if I..?” He made a cut along the captains’ neck, his blue blood leaking out. Karkat let go of him and he fell to the ground. The trolls looked in horror for a few seconds before charging at Karkat, but as he expected without their captain giving them hand signals and such they were so unorganized. Truly pathetic. He easily took out a couple of them, but then the blood loss really started to get to him. His movement were quickly growing slower, allowing the trolls to get more hits in. As the damage really started to sink in and Karkat grew shaky Dave managed to take out the last couple of trolls. With adrenaline wavering Karkat didn’t have the energy to stand any longer and fell to the ground. His cloths were almost completely covered in red and his breathing was shallower than it should be.

As soon as the final troll had fallen Dave and turned his attention to Karkat and looked almost pitifully down at the other. "Shit we need to get you bandaged," His words came out far more frantic than he had expected, worry mixing within his words.

He simply looked to Dave and shook his head. “Who are you kidding. T-there’s no way we have the supplies t-to fix me up.” He looked up to Dave and had a very small smile playing across his lips as he spoke in a quiet and very raspy voice. He looked completely pathetic, and it was plain to see he was trying to just give up.

"Don't you fucking say that Karks, this was our reunion we need to get past this and become best bros, hell, if you survive, I'll even be your sidekick." He said, shaking his head, repeating the number one strider rule in his head. "If you die I'll piss on your grave, asshat." He said,

He smiled a little more. “I knew you cared…” There were tears at the corner of his eyes and they slid down his face has he closed his eyes. He passed out and his body was trying to shut down. His breathing was almost nonexistent, his heartbeat was weak, and red covered the ground beneath him.

"Fuck you, wake up you dick. There's no fucking way I'm letting you die." Dave’s voice cracked just slightly as he continued repeating the main rule that had been drilled into him while younger. ‘Striders. Don’t. Cry.’

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first attempt at writing. This is actually based mostly off of a RP I had with someone a good year or two ago so I apologize it seems to jump back and forth a bit. I currently have no beta reader and I'm attempting to get through my senior year of high school so updates will be sporadic and grammar won't be the best. I do apologize for that and hope you'll stick with me and the story nonetheless.


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